Having examined the philosophical,
educational, and legal climate that contributed to the Enlightened ideology of
Christians in the American British colonies, let’s now turn our attention to
what was going on in the churches those Christians attended.

Early in the 1700s a religious revival
known as the Great Awakening took place in the colonies. It was nothing sudden
or dramatic, it was more of a gradual increase in
church attendance than anything else. The reason for the increased interest in
“Christianity” was the ideological war of words going on in politics, on street
corners, and in pulpits. As we have already seen, the Protestant Reformation
was driven primarily by nationalism fostered by geographic differences – not by
Biblical doctrine. Protestant rebellion had been in the air and the prospect of
giving the Italian pope a black eye was appealing. Because the Protestant
Rebellion was justified by philosophy rather than Bible doctrine, the early
Protestant preachers delivered many sermons that “justified” rebellion against
froward rulers. Instead of quietly deciding to Take
a hike!like Joseph and Mary and the Pilgrims,
Protestant Christians chose rebellion, which, if they were interested in
justifying their actions with Scripture, was the single worst course of action
they could have taken. Rebellion is antichrist. Rebellion is Satanic. Rebellion
is witchcraft. Oh, rebellion is in the Bible – but it’s always bad. Therefore
the Bible had nothing to do with the Protestant Reformation, the English Civil
War, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, or the American Civil War.
In each of those conflicts you may pick and choose whatever side you like
and/or agree with all you want, but from a Biblical and Christian perspective
the side that rebelled against authority was the most wrong it is possible to
be: No matter what God does and no matter what you and Lucifer think or want,
it is always wrong to rebel against Him in any way. And that basic, fundamental
principle of authority is supposed to govern the way all Christians think and
act – according to the Bible – because all authority is of God.

Because the Bible condemned their actions
it was Natural for Protestants to embrace the Enlightenment so they could
justify themselves before men. After all, hadn’t Reason been an official part
of Christianity since Aquinas?

The preachers in the British colonies in
America were merely doing what is routinely done today in pulpits across the
country; they combined Enlightened politics with a
Bible sermon in order to dress their political agenda, which in this case was
rebellion of all things, in Christian garb. It worked: Christian attendance was
down when just the Bible was the topic, but when the topic was world events
Christians flocked to church (1 Jn 4:5).

The Rev. Charles G. Finney – just like
his Protestant forefather, Martin Luther – believed and preached that political
involvement was part of serving God: “Politics are a part of religion,
and Christians must do their duty to their country as a part of their
duty to God.” For another example of preaching that came from Greek philosophy
rather than the word of God, read the following points made by a New England
minister in 1717: “…origin of civil power is the people in a Natural
state…the purpose of government is the will of the people…the sovereign
is not to deprive them of their Rights and Liberties, and the prince who
strives to do so is the traitor and the rebel and not the people who are merely
defending what is theirs…the objective of all government is to cultivate
Humanity, promote Happiness, preserve Rights, life, estate, and honor.”